2007-08 Annual Report - Harford County Public Schools

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Harford class of ‘09 achieves HSA proficiency Seniors close to 100% pass rate; ready to graduate Harford County Public School twelfth grade students are demonstrating a high rate of proficiency on the Maryland High School Assessments (HSA) in four subject areas; English, Algebra, Government, and Biology. The class of 2009 will be the first graduating class required to pass the HSAs in all four subject areas or to earn a composite score of 1602 scale score points in order to receive a Maryland diploma. Harford County exceeded the state average by three points with nearly 93 percent of seniors having completed the requirement as of May 2008. Of the 2,659 Harford County seniors, only 190 students still have tests to take or pass before the end of the year. With three administrations of HSA scheduled in the 08-09 school year, state officials project that the class of 2009 appears to be fully on their way to graduating on time. More than half of all Harford County high schools achieved 90 percent or more of their seniors having completed the HSA requirement for graduation. Bel Air High School outpacing all of their local counterparts with 98.2 percent of its seniors having passed the HSAs; C. Milton Wright, Fallston, Harford Technical, and North Harford also scored in the top ten percent. All remaining high schools are well on their way above 80 percent, with the exception of the Alternative Education Center falling in the 60th percentile. Out of those students who have taken all four tests and have met the requirement, Harford County ranks fifth among the 24 districts in the state, with an achievement rate of 95.3 percent. The class of 2010 is not far behind with a rate of 90.5 percent of those who have taken all four tests having met the requirement with two years left in their high school career. Multiple mechanisms for meeting the HSA requirement have been put in place including the Bridge Plan for Academic Validation and 525 the Combined-Score option. Students become eligible for the Bridge Plan after failing to pass 520 an HSA on two attempts and having participated in locally-administered interventions, passing 515 the HSA-related course, and making satisfactory progress toward graduation. As of 510 the May 2008 HSA adminis- 505 tration, there were approximately 122 Harford County 500 seniors eligible for Bridge Plan projects. Those 495 seniors have been working with school 490 administrators and teachers to select the 485 appropriate option for their needs. Percent Passed 2008 Harford County HSA Test Performance Status Grade 11 Students Who Have Taken the Test 96 94 92 90 88 86 84 82 80 78 87.2 Harford students improve on SATs In the Scholastic Assessment Tests (SATs), taken on a voluntary basis by college-bound students, Harford County showed improvement in both Critical Reading and Math, while the state scores remained flat. In Critical Reading, Harford’s Class of 2008 test takers, scored an average of 505 (out of 800) compared to an average of 499 for state students, and an average of 502 for students nationwide. On the Math portion, Harford’s graduating seniors recorded an average 521, compared to 502 for Maryland and 515 for the nation. Harford’s Critical Reading score was three points above the 2007 average result; and the Math average score for last year’s seniors was six points above the previous year’s average. Harford Maryland Nation Harford Maryland Nation Math 93.1 Algebra/Data Analysis 90.4 84.5 84.4 86.5 Verbal 91.9 95.5 Biology English Government SAT Scores 2007-08 Maryland Harford 2007 2008 10 BOE | DECEMBER 2008
Harford students show solid gains on MSA tests Local elementary/middle school students continue to outpace state counterparts Harford County Public School students showed significant gains in results from the Maryland School Assessment (MSA) tests taken by third through eighth graders in reading and math in March 2008. The composite results, released by the Maryland State Department of Education in July 2008, showed HCPS elementary students improving by 4.5 percent in reading and 3.9 percent in math compared to a year ago; with their middle school counterparts showing even greater gains, their composite scores rising by 6.2 percent in reading and 5.7 percent in math compared to the 2007 results. The 2008 composite scores show 90.3 percent of Harford Public School elementary students scoring at the proficient or advanced levels on the reading test, and 89.3 percent reaching that level on the math exam. At the middle school level, 86.2 percent of the students tested achieved at the proficient or advanced level in reading and 73 percent at proficient or better in math. The results show Harford Public School students achieving well above the established Annual Measurable Objectives (AMOs) at the elementary level (71.8 percent in reading and 69.1 percent in math, respectively) and in the middle schools (71.1 percent in reading and 57.2 percent in math, respectively). Part of the Federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) initiative, the reading and math tests are intended to assure that students are effectively learning the material appropriate to the curricula at each grade level measured. Each year, the AMOs are raised, heading toward the 2013- 14 school year when all students are expected to achieve at least at the proficient level. HCPS students scored well above their state counterparts at each grade level in the elementary schools in both reading and math. At third 90 grade, Harford’s percentage of students meeting standards in reading/math 85 of 87.4 percent and 88.5 percent compared to the state’s 83.0 and 82.6, respectively. In fourth grade, the HCPS 80 percent passing in reading and math of 90.1 and 91.4 compared to the 75 state’s 88.5 and 88.5, respectively. In fifth grade, the HCPS percent reaching 70 standards in reading/math of 91.5 and 85.8 compared to the state percentages of 86.7 and 80.5, respectively. 65 In the middle schools, at sixth grade, Harford students met standards 60 at the rate of 87.8 in reading and 79.4 in math for 2008, compared to Maryland’s 81.8 and 75.8 in those areas. At the seventh grade level in reading and math, HCPS students achieved standards at the rate of 85.8 and 71.9 compared to the state percentages of 81.2 and 68.2, respectively. And, in eighth grade, 82.0 percent in reading and 63.5 percent in math of Harford students met standards compared to 72.8 percent and 61.8 percent in the same areas statewide. During the five years since the MSA testing program began in 2003, Harford Public School students’ composite proficiency rates have improved in Mathematics from 62.3% to 78.8 per cent proficient in grades 3, 5, and 8 (the only grades tested both years). In Reading, proficiency rates across those three grades has increased from 73.1 in 2003 to 86.8 in 2008. Elementary Middle Elementary Middle Math MSA Scores 2007 - 08 Reading 2007 2008 DECEMBER 2008 | BOE 11
Page 1 and 2: Annual Report 2007-08 www.hcps.org
Page 3 and 4: Mission The mission of the Harford
Page 5 and 6: Financial Award The Government Fina
Page 7 and 8: FY 2009 HCPS Capital Improvement Pr
Page 9: Harford recruits/ retains among the
Page 13 and 14: November December Class of 2007-200
Page 15 and 16: Class of 2007-2008 principal of a s
Page 17 and 18: Rewind 2007-08 school year Groundbr
Page 19 and 20: Tile mural marks North Harford Elem
Page 21 and 22: Gabriel, Science teacher at Aberdee
Page 23 and 24: HCPS at a Glance Visit www.hcps.org

2007-08 Annual Report - Harford County Public Schools

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